Five quick takes: Budenholzer again shows strongly in emergency

The Fox Sports Southwest broadcast of Sunday’s Spurs game at Memphis prominently featured two Spurs fans sitting in the cheap seats at the FedExForum.

The two fans appeared to be enjoying themselves early with a sign reading “We Drove 286 Miles to See the Spurs.”

The fans weren’t shown late in the game, but they likely weren’t as giddy as before — particularly when they considered the Spurs team they saw.

Not only was Tim Duncan back home resting his sprained left ankle, but Manu Ginobili was out for most of the second half after sustaining a contusion in his left thigh. Ginobili’s injury occurred on a play that incensed Coach Gregg Popovich so much that he picked up two technicals and was ejected after his demonstrative show of emotion.

With only Tony Parker remaining among “The Big Three,” lead assistant coach Mike Budenholzer did a good job of keeping the Spurs afloat before a late Memphis charge pulled the Grizzlies to a 111-104 victory.

The Spurs had a 94-89 lead with barely more than five minutes remaining before a late Memphis spurt pulled them to the comeback victory.

Budenholzer did a nice job of keeping his team afloat. His personnel moves emphasized George Hill, DeJuan Blair and Gary Neal and all had strong efforts in the second half.

The loss won’t be easy to swallow, but Budenholzer can feel secure in that he did the best he could with the depleted roster available to him.

It will be interesting to see him run an NBA team as a head coach one of these days.

Here are four other takes from the worst of three losses on the “Lost Road Trip” that the Spurs can’t end fast enough.

1. Many in Spurs Nation were wondering where Tiago Splitter was in the fourth quarter of the Memphis loss. With Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol imposing their will inside, some figured it was a good time to get the rookie forward some on-the-job learning in a tough situation. I think that Budenholzer — and by extension, Popovich — did the right thing by keeping Splitter on the bench. Nothing could have been as damaging to Splitter’s fragile confidence than too much Z-Bo and Gasol down the stretch. It was a wise move as they prefer Gasol to learn to crawl rather than running and tumbling against a difficult matchup.

2. The biggest positive to come out of the loss was the return of Hill. With Ginobili out, the Spurs turned to Hill, who had struggled offensively and appeared listless in the first two games of the road trip. Hill came up big by matching his career-high 30 points as he thrived at Ginobili’s position. His insertion into the lineup also enabled Parker to improvise a little bit more than normal from the point guard spot. Hill showed Sunday night why he’s such a weapon. His game is predicated on the transition game, although his shooting was on as well. If Ginobili is out for a few games, the Spurs can turn to Hill without many worries.

3. The bullish Randolph will be one of the more notable free agents on the market after this season — if there is a season and no lockout. No opposing player is tougher for the Spurs to match up against as Randolph with his unique combination of strength and shooting touch that again flummoxed the Silver and Black Sunday night. If I was Popovich and the Spurs’ organization, I would hope Randolph ended up in the Eastern Conference where he wouldn’t be so prominent as when he is a divisional foe. Or, I would try — hard — to get him to join my team.

4. Memphis’ late charge for the playoffs really kicked in when veteran guard Tony Allen was added to the lineup after Rudy Gay’s injury. Allen is a veteran who is familiar with winning after his tenure with Boston. And since then, he’s become an offensive and defensive force for the Grizzlies. He’s one of the league’s most underrated players and his game against the Spurs — 23 points, five steals, four rebounds — showed all of his talents. Most observers thought the Grizzlies’ playoff hopes were dead after Gay’s injury. But Allen’s emergence is why the Grizzlies appear to be playoff bound for the first time in five seasons.